The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-07-23
PULLMAN COMBINES.
How the Porter and Buffet Man Make
Both Ends Meet.

Both Ends Meet.
brooklyn Eaglol
The porter and the buffet man on the
Pullman cars are always partners.
They know too much about one
another to quarrel. Their wages
average about $15 month, and the
company supplies them with food and
lodging. They quite double their
wages by tips received. That gives
them a dollar II day, with nothing to
pay for food and lodging. The way in
which they double and treble their
gains is this: They are supplied-that
is, the buffet man is supplied-With u
certified quantity of food to sell during
the trip by the company. So many
quarts Of oysters, so many chickens, so
many pieces of ham or corned beef
for sandwiches, SO much tea, SO much
The wine, the whisky and the matt
liquors are also similarly inventoricd.
the company deducts, at the end of
the route, the quantity returned from
the quantity delivered and charges the
buffet man for the price Of the differ
ence as marked ON the price list ham
ded to passengers. 1t is noticeable
that many of the buffet and dining
cars which were started u year or two
ago have been taken off on the ground
that they do not pay. The travelling
public has been complained of as par-
simonious or a very light eater. Sur
prise has been created by the fact that
the lunch rooms at stations with their
repelling supplies, hastily eaten, de-
voured standing, or badly served dur
ing the brief stoppage of the trains,
take in more than the dining or the
buffet car system, with Its elegant SER
vice, ample food, marked variety aud
pteutitude of time in which to eat.
Amusement has also been excited by
the apparent paradox that the few who
! travel by boat eat more, or pay more
! for it, than the many who travel by
rail. This Is the testimony of Stats
tics; 1t Is not the testimony of travel.
Tourists can certify there is more eat
ing on cars in America than on cars
anywhere else in the world, and that
the busiest men on trains are the din
ing car men and the buffet men. The
problem of the disparity between the
finances of the companies in the food
lers has been solved by a sharp Witted
officer Of the Pennsylvania Central
with whom 1 talked this week. He
"got onto the racket"-to use his own
slang. when hope will not be unin-
ccIitiglbie to my readers. His exptana-
ton is this: At the first station out
from the starting point the porter re-
ceives from confederate in waiting a
supply of food which duplicates that
furnished to the buffet man, except
tho supplies of wines and such things
as are expensive. The porter pays
wholesale rates for these provisions.
The buffet man sells it at price list
rates to the passengers, aud disposes OF
just enough of the company's supplies
to avert condemnatory suspicion on
his return. For instance, eighteen
oysters a pint are allowed TO the buffet
man for rs cents, as there are three por-
tions, of six oysters each, at 90 cents a
portion in the eighteen. Tho buffet
man, however, and the porter can buy
quart of oysters for 25 cents and max G
81 SO by separating them into six por-
lions, clearing 81 % profit on tho sum
The same or approximate rates of prof
are made on other pr0vender. The
porter will make $50 month prof,
and the buffet man little more than
that each month on the arrangement
! The scheme has worked to II charm
Instead Of the company getting the 4OC
or 500 per cent on the high priced food
the servitnrs pocket ii.